Monday, October 19, 2009

Why Ochocinco is The Man

Chad Ochocinco, formerly Chad Johnson, of the Cincinnati Bengals often gets criticized for his antics both on and off the field. Many people feel that he is bad for the game because he cares more about himself than his team and that he makes a mockery of the NFL.

I am not one of these people. I think Ochocinco is the man and here are the reasons why:

The List

Every year when the NFL schedule comes out Ochocino makes a list of all the cornerbacks that will be covering him throughout the year. After each game he then goes to the locker room and puts a checkmark beside the players name if he feels he outplayed them. Usually he gets the checkmark but he is also pretty honest about it and will admit if he was outplayed.

The List is both practical and hilarious. It gives him extra motivation to play better because if he plays like shit he will have to put an 'x' down letting people know he got beat.

The Celebrations

Before the NFL instituted the "Chad Rule" Ochocinco was famous for his crazy touchdown celebrations. He basically modernized the touchdown celebration by using props and interacting with the fans and even workers on the sidelines. He even went as far as to rent a reindeer during a game in December. His celebrations were always great and made him one of the more interesting players in the league.

Twitter

No athlete in professional sports is into Twitter more than Chad Ochocinco. He loves it. He updates constantly, and not just bible verses like TO, with interesting news. He calls out Shawn Merriman every week which is hilarious and he even gives away free tickets to people that follow him. That's right. Not only do you get free tickets but he will also fly you out to the game on his dime.

He also hosts live video streams via his Twitter account which is sweet. During training camp he would have daily shows with players on his team and would talk about the upcoming season and how camp was going. As a fan this is unprecedented access and if you are a Bengals fan what more could you ask for? By the way if you have never seen one of his videos you need to go watch one asap because they are jokes.

Attitude

In Week 5 the Bengals played the Baltimore Ravens. Late in the 4th quarter Ochocinco went to catch a pass from Carson Palmer and got LIT UP by Ray Lewis. I mean he destroyed. The play was deemed illegal and Lewis received a penalty and was also fined $25,000 by the NFL.

Ochocinco didn't feel the hit was dirty and publicly asked the league not to fine Lewis for the hit. Now how many people would do this? None? Sounds about right to me. These guys play for rival teams and both make millions of dollars but still Ocho thought the hit was clean and therefore Lewis shouldn't be fined. The plea failed but the fact that he did that should be enough to prove he is the man.

His Loyalty

Leading up to the game against the Texans this week the Bengals hadn't sold out their stadium which meant the game would be blacked out on local channels. In an effort to correct this problem Ocho teamed up with Motorolla and bought the remaining tickets so the game would be seen in the local area. He then gave the tickets away to fans who came to the stadium on Saturday.

Now you may view this as merely a publicity stunt but I think that it was one of the better sports stories I had heard in a long time. Much like asking for fines on other players to be removed how many people would do this?

He is Good

Besides all of his antics and charitable/publicity doings people forget that he is an elite receiver in the NFL. He has almost 10,000 yards receiving for his career and 56 Touchdowns. He can play physical but can also be a finesse receiver. He runs really good routes, he doesn't drop passes, and he actually blocks. His numbers last year weren't amazing but he has shown this year that he is getting back into form.